Things in italics and bold are flashbacks (from the first chapter).

"TRAVIS!!! CONNER!!!"

Percy sighed when the screech interrupted his conversation with Katie. The god shot a pleading look at his companion. "He's your boyfriend," Percy leveraged.

Katie countered back swiftly, "He's here for you."

Percy groaned at her logic. He gave the daughter of Demeter a small, exasperated smile before excusing himself and jogging towards the yelling.

It was coming from the Hunters' encampment.

No surprise there.

"You're gonna be lucky if you can crawl after I catch you!"

Percy passed Tony and Clint, the former giving him a good luck; you're gonna need it face, and the latter giving him a thumbs-up with a big, cheesy smile.

Percy gave Clint the bird.

Which was sorta ironic, considering his hero name was a bird.

The son of Poseidon finally reached the Hunters' small clearing. The females milled around, mostly making arrows and washing clothes. He wasnt surprised to see a raging Thalia, who also happened to be dripping wet. Percy figured that was why she was so angry.

He was observant like that.

Thalia noticed Percy quickly. The look on her face made Percy almost wish she hadn't.

"Percy!" she hollered. "Help me find those stupid Stoll brothers!"

Percy reached her side. "So you can castrate them? I don't think so."

He grabbed her arm and dried her off. He kept his grip on her, so she wouldn't go running off and attack someone. "It'd be hard for them to fight if you did that," Percy explained.

Unfortunately, his logic didn't penetrate Thalia's anger.

"Then I'll just break their legs," Thalia snarled back.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "They can't fight with broken legs, either," he reminded the huntress calmly.

"Then I'll just break one leg," she bargained.

Percy sighed. "Thalia..."

"What if I just fracture—"

"No."

"But I didn't even finish."

"You can't fracture anything, Thalia."

She pouted.

Percy leaned to the side to dodge a projectile. He sensed the water in it, so he knew it was harmless and didn't bother pulling Thalia out of the way.

Big mistake.

The water balloon splattered against Thalia, drenching the shirt Percy just dried.

"Whoops," Percy muttered.

Laughter rang from the trees behind them.

"Sorry, Perce," came the amused call. Two browns head poked out the brush with identical schist-eating grins.

The brothers yelped and ducked when one arrow flew by their heads and another stuck, quivering, into the tree trunk beside them.

Percy groaned and glanced back to see half of the huntresses holding bows with annoyed scowls. They didn't seem to find the prank very funny.

The god tightened his grip when Thalia tried to yank out of it. "Come on, Thals," he muttered, as he dried her yet again. "We need them, remember? No killing, please."

The daughter of Zeus didn't seem convinced.

"At least until after the battle," Percy added after a second. They weren't Percy's problem afterward.

Thalia scowled. "Fine," she murmured, yanking her arm away. "But after, they're mine."

Percy grimaced. Rest in peace, Travis and Conner. "Okay," he replied, verbally signing the two troublemakers death warrants.

Thalia huffed and turned on her heel, walking back to her girls, who'd reluctantly put their bows down and returned to their previous activities.

Percy blew out a breath and shook his head. He turned and almost ran into someone.

The girl jerked back immediately, not meeting his eyes.

"Woah, my bad," Percy apologized. "Sorry about that."

The girl--who couldn't have been over twelve--mumbled something, too low for even Percy's godly ears to hear.

Percy's gaze flickered to the woman who moved to stand beside the girl. "Phoebe."

"Percy," she greeted and placed her hand on the child's shoulder protectively.

Percy's eyes flickered back to the girl. "And what's your name?" he questioned in a soft voice.

"Shh," he muttered, rubbing her back. "What's your name?"

The girl flinched at the acknowledgement with a startled look. She glanced at Phoebe questionably. Phoebe nodded. "It's okay. You can tell him. He's not like the others."

The girl nodded slowly and met Percy's eyes hesitantly. "A-Abigail," she stuttered in a little voice.

"B-Bethany," she replied, sniffling.

"Abigail's a pretty name," Percy responded kindly. He inclined his head at Phoebe and sent another smile to the child before moving to step past them.

"Are you an Avenger?"

Percy blinked. He was shocked the girl had spoken to him. He turned back. "Uh, well not really. I've been living with them, though."

Abigail seemed to brighten a little. "Do you know Black Widow?"

"Nat?" he questioned, surprised. "Yeah, I do."

"Really?" The girl's eyes sparkled, and her whole face lit up. "What's she like? Is she as cool as she looks?"

Percy smiled. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Abigail blinked at him.

"Ill be right back," Percy promised. "Stay here."

When Percy returned with Natasha two minutes later, he was scared Abigail was going to combust. Her attitude completely changed. She was bursting with questions, to the endless amusement of the assassin, who answered each one.

Percy looked at Phoebe and tilted his head away from the pair. The huntress got the message and followed him a few feet away.

"She's a sweet girl," Percy started.

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, she is," she replied in a protective tone.

"She seemed very... wary of me."

Phoebe's face darkened. "Yes, that's not very surprising. We only picked her up a couple of months ago, so she's still very wary of men." At Percy's questioning look, the woman continued. "Her dad's Apollo. Her stepfather, though, was not a good man. He beat her mother, though she insists he didn't touch her... well, until..." She sighed. "Her stepfather got really angry and drunk one night. Took a knife and killed her mom. Tried to kill her, too. She got away. But she ended up being chased by monsters into the forest. That's how we found her. With a tip from Apollo, at least." Phoebe's face showed what she thought of the god, though Percy knew she respected Apollo for tipping them off.

Percy's own face darkened. He glanced back, where the now-animated girl was happily showing Natasha her knife. "The stepfather. Is he...?"

Phoebe smiled grimly. "Don't worry. Artemis took care of him."

Percy nodded stiffly. He hesitated. "Is she-is she gonna be fighting?"

Phoebe watched him carefully. "She's a hunter, Percy. This isn't her first monster fight."

"I know. I just..."

Phoebe sighed. "Don't worry. We put her in the infirmary. She's not happy about being left out of the fight, but secretly I think she's a little relieved. I know I am. They're probably gonna need a little help anyway. And it wouldn't hurt to have a few guards there. We don't want of repeat of... that time."

Percy's sea-green eyes swirled unreadably, his mood plunging. "No, we certainly don't," he replied softly. He wasn't quite happy with her being in the infirmary with all the blood and death, but it was better than actually fighting.

He tilted his head at Phoebe and walked away, leaving the older huntress to watch over the two giggling, knife-wielding females.

Percy's footsteps crunched on the grass, as his mind wandered. They'd barely been here two days, but everyone (except Travis and Conner apparently) had learned to give the Hunters a wide berth. The other half-bloods had already known, but the male Avengers hadn't been as lucky. Tony and Clint had learned the hard way. Fortunately, Thor and Bruce had been respectful enough not to incur their wrath. And Loki had been smart enough to just stay away.

Percy sighed, going over the last few days events in his head. The Avengers had talked to S.H.I.E.L.D., who had lent them this compound a few miles outside the city. Of course, they hadn't told S.H.I.E.L.D. the real reason. While it would have been nice to have trained backup, they didn't want to tell Fury more than was necessary. That would've put all demigods in danger.

He'd gotten in touch with Thalia, who had quickly agreed. He'd also talked to Reyna and Nico, who had talked their respective camps. Many of the older camper—most who had been in at least one of the wars, if not both—had come to join them.

He'd gotten the Avengers weapons or modified their own. The heroes had been learning everything they could about the common Greek and Roman monsters, and many of the demigods had been helping them.

"Well that was an entertaining show," came an amused voice from above. Nico hopped down from the tree he'd be watching in. "The Stoll brothers definitely have some guts; I'll give them that."

Percy chuckled, not even flinching at the sudden voice. He'd known Nico had been watching. "It was nice of you to help."

"Now where would the fun in that be?"

Percy sighed. "Everyone just wanted to watch me get beat up by a bunch of man-hating girls, huh?"

A shrug and a sly grin. "Maybe."

Percy grunted.

"Percy!"

The son of Poseidon glanced over to see Reyna jogging towards him. "Percy. Loki said to come get you." Her face darkened.

"I think its time."